A man accused of murdering his young daughter will undergo an assessment to see if he is fit to stand trial in his toddler’s death, a provincial judge said yesterday.

A haggard-looking Lakhvinder Kahlon, 47, appeared in Surrey Provincial Court yesterday charged with first-degree murder in the death of his daughter Rajvinder, 2.

Kahlon had deep black circles under his bloodshot eyes. His greying beard was unkempt and his hair was wild.

He listened through an interpreter as Justice William MacDonald ordered him to undergo an assessment at Colony Farm Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam.

Defence counsel Kris Pechet said his client was "highly distraught" but could say little else about the man or the case, which is subject to a publication ban. Kahlon was arrested Friday at his house in North Delta. His wife was walking the couple’s older daughters to school when the alleged murder took place.